Child safety seat

ABSTRACT

A child safety seat for use in a vehicle, comprising a seat body (10), and two S-shaped coupling arms (36, 38), each of which is pivotally mounted at one end (46, 48) to the seat body (10) below the front thereof and has a front releasable fastener (58, 60) on its other end (54, 56) for attachment to a front anchorage unit located below the front edge of a vehicle seat (18). The coupling arm (36, 38) is so shaped that an intermediate portion (40, 42) thereof is located in front of both ends (46, 48; 54, 56) thereof when the front releasable fastener (58, 60) is engaged with the front anchorage unit, so as to extend round the front edge of the vehicle seat (18).

FIELD

This invention relates to a child safety seat for use in a vehicle, ofthe type comprising a seat body and releasable coupling means forsecuring the seat body to the vehicle.

RELATED ART

The disadvantage of mounting a child seat in a vehicle by resting it ona vehicle seat and securing it in place with straps arises from theinherent resilience of the springs and upholstery of the vehicle seatand also from the resilience of the straps themselves. Even if thestraps securing the child seat are pulled very tight duringinstallation, such resilience will permit undesirable movement of thechild seat relative to the vehicle in the event of sudden deceleration,for example during an accident. In order to overcome this disadvantage,it has been proposed to provide motor cars with standard anchorage unitsat agreed locations for engagement by releasable connectors which arerigidly coupled to a child seat. Proposals under discussion at thepresent time involve the location of at least one such standardanchorage unit below the front edge of the vehicle seat and close to thefloor of the vehicle. The present invention is concerned with theprovision of a child seat of the type described above for attachment tosuch anchorage units.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention, in a child safety seat of the type describedabove, the releasable coupling means includes a coupling arm pivotallymounted at one end to the seat body below the front thereof and having afront releasable fastener on its other end for attachment to a frontanchorage unit located below the front edge of a vehicle seat, thecoupling arm being so shaped that an intermediate portion thereof islocated in front of both ends thereof when the front releasable fasteneris engaged with the front anchorage unit.

The coupling arm may be S-shaped.

It should be understood that reference to the front of the child seatmeans the front of the seat in relation to the direction of travel ofthe vehicle. If the invention is applied to a rearward facing childseat, the coupling arm would be attached to the seat body in the regionof the backrest thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a child seat in accordance with theirinvention fitted to a vehicle seat;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the child seat with its support memberin the orientation shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a scrap view of a standard anchorage unit for permanentattachment to a vehicle body;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the child seat shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 with itssupport member in a position ready for removal of the child seat fromthe vehicle;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 2 but with the supportmember in the position shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a side view of a buckle for securing the child seat shown inFIGS. 1 and 2 to a vehicle;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the buckle shown in FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a partially broken away perspective view of the buckle shownin FIGS. 6 and 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The child seat shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 comprises a rigid seat shell 10mounted on a tubular metal frame 12. The seat 10 has a harness (notshown) for the child which is of conventional type, consisting ofshoulder straps, lap straps and a crotch strap, as described inAU-B-503603.

The support frame 12 includes a pair of horizontal members 14 and 16which are intended in use to be located on or slightly above a vehicleseat squab 18. At their rear ends, the members 14 and 16 have respectivebuckles 20 and 22 on their rear ends for engagement with standardanchorage units located between the seat squab 18 and the seat back 24of the vehicle seat. A release bar 26, extending between the front endsof the members 14 and 16, is coupled so that forward movement thereofcauses the buckles 20 and 22 to disengage.

Referring to FIG. 3, one form of standard anchorage unit comprises agenerally U-shaped rod-like member 28 secured to a part 30 of thevehicle body by the ends of its limbs and with its central portion 32oriented to extend in a general horizontal direction transversely of thevehicle.

In accordance with the invention, the seat shell also has a front framecomprising two S-shaped members 36 and 38 having intermediate parts 40and 42 interconnected by a transverse member 44. The two S-shapedmembers 36 and 38 are connected at their upper ends 46, 48 to theunderside of the front edge of the seat shell 10 by respective pivotjoints 50 and 52. At their lower ends 54, 56, each of the S-shapedmembers carries a respective buckle 58, 60 for engagement with standardanchorages located below the front edge of the vehicle seat squab 18.When the releasable coupling means 58, 60 are so engaged, theintermediate parts 40, 42 of the S-shaped members 36 and 38 extend roundthe front edge of the vehicle seat squab 18 while both ends 46, 48, 54,56 thereof are behind such front edge. The vertical parts 62 and 64 ofthe S-shaped members 36 and 38 adjacent to the upper ends 46 and 48,obstruct movement of the release bar 26.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, when the child seat 10 is to be removed fromthe vehicle, the front buckles 58 and 60 are released and the S-shapedmembers 36 and 38 folded upwards to the positions illustrated in FIG. 4.The release bar 26 can then be pulled forwardly to cause the rearbuckles 20 and 22 to disengage and allow the seat to be removed from thevehicle.

Folding up the front S-shaped members 36 and 38 as described above hastwo advantages. Firstly, it makes the child seat 10 more compact forstorage. Secondly, the transverse member 44 obstructs access to thechild seat 10 when the S-shaped members 36 and 38 are in the positionillustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, and thus reduces the risk of a user merelyengaging the rear buckles 20 and 22 and leaving the front buckles 58 and50 disconnected.

FIGS. 6 to 8 illustrate the buckle 20 in more detail. A main body isformed from sheet metal bent into a U-shape so as to provide twomutually parallel side walls 110 and 112 having a transverse wall 114extending therebetween. The ends of the side walls 110 and 112 to theright of the wall 114, as viewed in the drawings, are connected to theframe member 14 (not shown in FIGS. 6 to 8).

Each of the side walls 110 and 112 has an open-ended slot 116 extendingthrough the end wall 118 formed by the portion of the U-shaped bodyinterconnecting the two side walls 110 and 112. Each slot 116 has aflared outer end 120. In use, the transverse part 32 (FIG. 3) of ananchorage unit 28 is received in the slots 116 and the flared outer part120 assists achievement of the correct alignment during insertion.

A latch member 122 is mounted on a pivot pin 124 which extends betweenthe side walls 110 and 112. The latch member 122 has a hook formation126 which engages round the transverse part 32 of the anchorage unit 28.A cam surface 128 on the outer end hook part 126 displaces the hook part126 out of the path of the transverse portion 32 during insertion.

The latch member 122 is biassed into its engaged position by acompression spring 130 which engages with the transverse wall 114. Thecentral wire 132 of a Bowden cable 134 extends through the compressionspring 130 and is connected to a transverse pin 136 on the latch member122 so that tension in the wire 132 causes the latch member 122 todisengage (the other end of the wire being connected to the release bar26).

An ejector 140 is mounted in the slots 116 in the side walls 112 and 114and has a stem 142 projecting through the transverse wall 114. Acompression spring 144, engages between the wall 114 and a flange 146 onthe stem 142 so as to bias the ejector 140 outwardly. This ensures thatthe ejector 140 remains closely in abutment with the transverse part 32of the anchorage unit 28 when the buckle is fastened (although forclarity of illustration it is shown spaced apart therefrom in FIG. 6).The ejector 140 serves to ensure that, when the latch 122 is released,the transverse part 32 is moved outwardly at least as far as the ramppart 128 of the hook 126.

The buckles 22, 58 and 60 are substantially identical to the buckle 20.The Bowden cable 134 of the buckle 22 is connected to the release bar26. The Bowden cable 134 of each of the other two buckles 46, and 48 areconnected to a common actuating member mounted on the transverse member40.

We claim:
 1. A child safety seat in combination with a vehicle, thevehicle having:an adult vehicle seat with a seat portion and a backrestportion, a rear anchorage unit rigidly secured to the vehicle at thebottom of the backrest portion of the vehicle seat, and a frontanchorage unit rigidly secured to the vehicle below the front edge ofthe vehicle seat; the child safety seat comprising: a seat body, a rearreleasable fastener projecting from the rear of the seat body forattachment to the rear anchorage unit, a front releasable fastener onthe other end of seat body for attachment to the front anchorage unit,and a coupling arm having one end secured to the front releasablefastener and its other end pivotally attached to the seat body below thefront thereof for angular movement between a first position in which thefront releasable fastener engages with the front anchorage unit and anintermediate portion of the coupling arm is located in front of bothends thereof, and a second position in which both the front releasablefastener and said intermediate portion are located in front of the seatbody so as to obstruct occupancy thereof.
 2. A child safety seat incombination with a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the couplingarm is S-shaped.
 3. A child safety seat in combination with a vehicle,according to claim 1, further comprising manually operable release meansfor the rear releasable fastener, operation of said release means beingobstructed by the coupling arm when the front releasable fastener isengaged with the front anchorage unit.
 4. A child safety seat incombination with a vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the couplingarm is S-shaped.